Wausa High School - Viking Yearbook (Wausa, NE)

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could see it with my own eyes, so we drove out to the plantation. ln front of a cute little bungalow, five children of nearly the same age were playing with a little toy engine trying to make it run. When they were about ready to give up, ,a tall lanky man came out and helped them. In just a few minutes the engine was running in perfect order. As no one had noticed - our ap- proach, we sat there watching them for sometime. Suddenly 'a little boy jumped up and ran to meet us. I immediately recogniz- ed some features of a classmate with whom I had attended 'school for twelve years. The boy took us to his father who prov- ed to 'be Charles El Dorado. We were very happy to hear about all his marvelous inventions. It was really remarkable the way he had invented niacliinery for eliminating the drudgery in his work on the farm. The next morning we started on our way to sunny California. Upon our arrival there we stopped to gaze at the homes of the movie stars in Beverly Hills, As far as we ' knew, there were none that we knew, but just toxmake certain we bought a direc- tory of those who made their homes in this district. We had al- most given up hope, when we ran across the name of Melvin Koehler printed in bold-face type. Immediately we surmized that ne was a man of importance. We guessed right, as under his nameg it said Manager M-G-M Studios. We went to visit his studio, but no one was permitted to enter unless they knew the manager personally or had a pass. We were out of luck until we saw a rather tall man with glasses come up, and bark out a few orders to theothers. We recognized him immeditely so proceeded to introduce ourselves to him, He received us gladly and invited us to attend the premie're of his latest production of Gone witln the Rain that night, which we accepted with pleasure, . After the premie're we were invited to hisliome for a sumptuous ban- quet, at which we were introduced to a number of his famous stars. We stayed in Beverly Hills for the night, and the next morning we set out for the harbor to board our ship which was to carry us to the isles in the Pacific. We were taken to the sea- shore in a new invention, the motrolocopter . This was the first time the inventor had tried it out. Vlneedrew a deep breath, took a good last look at the beautiful scenery around us, and then climbed into the contraption which looked like a motorcycle with drop wings. It could be used on the land, the sea, or the air. The driver was a short fellow with deep dimples in his cheeks. He had not changed much in twenty years, so we easily recognized him as the same old Dwaine Nelson that graduated with the class of '43, The ride to the port was very thrilling. When we reached the dock, instead of dropping us off where the other passengers were, he pulled a lever, a big wing appear- ed, and he dropped us on the deck of our ship. I By this time we were quite worked up, as the ride had been both nerve-wracking and daring. When we climbed out of the motrolocopter the captain of the ship was there to greet us. He introduced himself as Vaughn Erickson. But who was that beautiful brunette hanging on his arm? She was the one who had drawn our attention, but Vaughn just let out a little -laugh, and said that she was his childhood sweetheart, Lillian Ander- son.

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starting on this trip immediately, I expressed my regrets at not being able to come. However, I extended my heartiest congrat- ulations to my old classmate and her husband. 1 We did not have much time to wait, as the bus was now ready to leave. Soon we were on our way out ,of Omaha. The bus driver was of a rather stocky budd, and very quiet. I kept looking at him for sometime, as he reminded me so much of some- one I had seen before. At the next stop nearly everyone got off of the bus, leaving only the bus driver and my party to continue the journey westward. I We drove on for many miles neither of us saying a word, but both thinking the same thoughts, namely, that we knew each other. Finally I mustered enough courage to ask him if his name was not Sheldon Lind. He said that he was none other than Sheldon and a member of the class of '43. We talked over old times, and Sheldon told me that he was operating a trans- continental bus line, and once a week he took this bus on a part of its regular route, I was certainly glad that he had chosen to make this particular trip. From here on, the miles seemed to pass only too quickly, as we reminisced over the days we had spent in good old Wausa High School more than twenty years ago. When the bus stopped at North Platte, the bus driver took me into the station, to meet another classmate of ours. I had no idea who it would be, as Sheldon had not mentioned a word about him as we traveled along, Imagine my surprise and delight as he introduced me to Marlind Nelson, the manager of this large bus depot. Marlind had changed with the years, for his hair had turned gray, and he had gotten very thin. He told me that upon graduation from Harvard University, he had accepted a .position with the Lind Super bus line. We changed buses at North Platte, and continued westward on the Lincoln highway. Our next stop was Denver, where we remained for a day to see the different places of interest. In order to make the most of our short stay here, the soap company had made arrangements for a guide to show us around. I was very much surprised when we were introduced to Irvin Rosenberg, who was to be our guide during our stay in. Denver. Irvin was considered one of the best guides in Denver, and he knew all the spots of general interest in the vicinity. As we were walking up the mountain side, I asked Irvin how it happened that he had chosen this means of making his living. He said that he probably would not have been here, but for the fact that the doctor had ordered the mountain climate in the hopes of improving . the health of his wife, He had really learned to like his job, especial- ly as the guide season was so short. I wish we could have remained in Denver a few more days, but we had a number of places to go and not much time to spend at each, Our next stop was at a cactus plantation in Arizona. This place, I was told, obtained its brilliant electric lights from the juice of the cactus plant. The inventor was called a crazy scientist because he had spent about five years working on its developmlent. On the day the juice was turned on this scientist became famous all over the state of Arizona. I was very much excited after hearing about this, and could hardly wait until I

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The voyage across the ocean was filled with entertainment. -One day while standing on deck, a deep sea diver entertained us. 'He was a heavy set man, On the back of his diving suit he had -the initials D. L. I at once thought that D. L. stood for Deep Looker because he seemed to be gazing down all the time with those big brown eyes of his. When he turned toward the crowd which had gathered on the deck, I at once knew there was only one man in the world with such beautiful brown eyes. When he saw me, he immediately rushed over and threw his arms around me, taking me quite by surprise, and causing me to wonder what kind of a deep sea diver this was, But I did'nt need a second look to see that it was the old Romeo of muy high school class, Dean Lindahl. We tarried for a while in the beautiful Hawaiian Islands, and were much surprised, when Leslie Johnson, the King of the Island, stepped out to greet us. He introduced us to his Wife, a beautiful lady, the former Arlyce Lundeen. I asked them how it happened that they had come to Hawaii to live. Leslie said he just couldn't stand the climate back in the United States any longer and so had come to get a lonig needed rest. Our next stop was Japan, an island now in the possession of the United States. As I had heard so much about the splen- did work being done in the island by Rev. and Mrs, Eugene Nel- son, I was especially interested in visiting it. When We arrived at the Nelson missionary field, Rev. Eugene Was there to greet us, and he showed us all the different scenes of interest in his parish. Eugene told us that Auryl Erickson was head maid and personal secretary to the governor-general of Japan, and that we should visit her as soon as we could. It seemed like we just didn't have time enough to talk with our old class mates, and were soon on our way again. While in Japan the news of a large camel, horse and donkey ranch in Arabia had- reached us. Even though it was a little out of our regular course, we decided that we wanted to see it, especially since the owners were Donley Mainquist, and Robert Lindstrom, Both were very good ranchers., While staying there they invited us to take a ride on one of their beautiful Arabian horses, which we did. We were delayed a week because of it. While we were on the ranch a message came, stating that our plane would start back in three days, and that our next stop would be in Switzerland. . We arrived in Switzerland just in time to view the snow carnival held yearly in the Alps. The worlds famous skiing champions, James Lingren and Arnold Welander, were compet- ing in the carnival. It was really thrilling the way they glided down the hills, and when it was over James Lingren had won the race by setting a new worlds record in high ski jumping. Our stay in Switzerland was very exciting, and we would have liked to stay there longer, but time would not permit us to do so. The next place of interest on our itinerary was Germany. Since the World War II ended this little country had turned quite peaceful. It was entirely under a new ruler, a mall who had a great influence with the people of Germany. As it hap- pened we arrived in Germany when the leader of the people was giving a public speech, celebrating his tenth year in